Saturday, August 06, 2011

Tom Jackson on Freemasonry Around the World

My friend and Brother, Thomas W. Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania, is well traveled with a long glowing career in Freemasonry. His international travels are legendary (along with his reputation as a big game hunter). He and I have very different attitudes about Freemasonry in the United States, and we have shared the stage several times. His observations are illustrative of the broad variations in the culture of Freemasonry around the world. He makes the compelling case for higher dues, greater requirements, and that quality will attract quality: in short, that there's nothing wrong with elitism. I don't think he's wrong.

3 comments:

This was very helpful and in due time. I am having trouble myself with a feeling of disappointment. I am noticing that our craft withing the USA, at least California, is loosing that philosophical value it once had and it is turning into a social club. That is going completely against of why I joined the craft. Once book that comfort me was the Masonic Myth, by a Brother of the name Jay Kinney, which at the end he addressed this issue as well and open my eyes to the T.O. Lodges, Traditional Observance lodges. My question is why can't all lodges be T.O. ? I speak to my godfather - brother from Brazil, he is an officer with the Grand Orient of Brazil, he explains to me the structure of Freemasonry in Brazil today and explains the requirements that the candidate has to complete before initiation and also to advance through the degrees. I was a little hesitant to talk about how we do it here in California, or at least at my lodge. I never lost faith in the craft and I was very happy to see a Brother such as Right Wors. Br. Jackson take this issue at hand as well. This gives me great hope that our craft will change in the USA and that I am not alone in this troubling fact.

While I agree with the spirit of his speech and his ideas, I wonder however why his "quality" is so based on the mundane. Not one person that he cited as having met was lauded for his spiritual or personal mettle, but rather for material "success." He said, "Wouldn't it be great to sit with people like that in our lodges?" Well, I for one do. I sit with mayors, brokers, social reformers, and engineers. I also sit with students and construction workers. Each one, however, is an amazing, thoughtful individual. While I have people around me who are individually amazing, I feel no loss at having no ministers, presidents, or astronauts in my lodge. I wonder why he does not see them; in Wilmington, each of our three AF&AM lodges have people of moral mettle and integrity that every day, make me proud. I wonder to where HE travels.

I agree. I joined for the philosophical, esoteric element. I thought i was joining a moral, thinking man's fraternity not a pancake club. In diappointment though i found many like minded brothers and formed the Collegium Alchemicum,y own lemonade if u will.....

Freemasonry is...

Freemasonry is the world's largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity. It is based on the medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Modern Freemasons use the tools, traditions and terminology of those stonemasons as allegories for building temples in the hearts of men. It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself. It's not for everybody. Maybe it's for you.

"Brother Chris Hodapp's [blog]...is thought provoking and is often the first place on the web where new ideas and matters of interest are posted."

Christopher L. Hodapp is the former editor of the "Journal of The Masonic Society." He is the author of the best-selling "Freemasons For Dummies," and "Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C."
He is the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of "The Templar Code For Dummies" and "Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies."
He has appeared on the History and Discovery channels on the subject of Freemasonry, its role in the founding of the United States and the building of Washington D.C.
Hodapp has spent more than twenty years editing, writing and directing as a commercial filmmaker. He has written for corporate and non-profit programs, and his voice has appeared in many television and radio commercials.
His newest book, "Deciphering the Lost Symbol," was published in 2010.
He is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason, and he lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.